Friday, March 29, 2013

The John Lenon Letters Part II

I am now continuing with The
John Lennon Letters edited by Hunter Davies from where I left off and the
entrance of Yoko into John’s life.

John met Yoko in 1966 and moved in with her in 1968. Much
was happening at this time with the Beatles, too. John’s correspondence deals
with establishing his and Yoko’s credentials as artists promoting world peace
via the acorn project, which involved the mailing of a pair of acorns to world
leaders to plant in an east-west axis in the name of peace. This may be where
John begins his rest of life quest to promote world peace. The letters that do
exist show some tension and are few and torn in some cases. Perhaps the letters
are symbolic of John’s life at this time. They include nude drawings of him and Yoko.

John’s whimsy is continually seen in the surveys he fills
out and in the misspellings in postcards and letters. Post Beatles is spent
introducing Yoko to family and traveling by air and car, which isn’t advisable
for John, as he seems to be a bad driver. Primal Scream becomes a part of his separation and release
from the Beatles and past life. He uses the Scream to segue to his next stage
and shares this with family and friends via mail and music. I find Maynard
Ferguson’s version of Primal Scream
more palpable albeit later.A lot
of legal stuff ends Beatles and puts distance between him and Paul. Not
pretty.Much time and mail spent
on promoting Yoko and her work as well as re defending himself at times as
author of some music and resurrecting statements about Jesus. Also more time
spent in America, as they slowly become New Yorkers. He and Yoko are living
downtown as he burns the bridges at home and continues his battles with Paul.
Better the combatants use words (lyrics) rather than bullets. It seems as if
John is tying lots of loose ends before breaking away from his motherland for
NYC.

The whole bit with Paul is interesting as it is Linda doing
the writing for Paul to John and John doing his own writing. Her involvement,
especially with the Eastman lawyers at the end of Beatles caused lots more
trouble than Yoko did.

EST

About Me

I retired in Feb 2012 after teaching English since 1974 in private and public schools. I'm a father of three. I have twin granddaughters and a grandson. I have two younger sisters. I live in Woodstock, GA and I travel in a Scamp.
ted.nellen@gmail.com